


Something To See There

by lucycourageous



Series: If There Ever Was a Perfect Couple [2]
Category: Legally Blonde - All Media Types, Legally Blonde - Hach/O'Keefe/Benjamin
Genre: (another one), Best Friends, F/M, I’m very interested in the transition for Elle from just seeing Emmett as a friend, Missing Scene, anyway, but doesn’t actually fully realise until after Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde reprise, have a lil one-shot, i think she has moments of ‘huh’, this is set between There Right There and the scene in Callahan's office, to when she realises she fancies him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27915469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucycourageous/pseuds/lucycourageous
Summary: "You were something to see there."In which seeing Emmett in court makes Elle feel a lot of things.
Relationships: Emmett Forrest/Elle Woods
Series: If There Ever Was a Perfect Couple [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2109252
Comments: 15
Kudos: 92





	Something To See There

“Oh my God, Emmett, you were so brilliant in there!”

Elle knew she was talking too loudly, but she couldn’t help it. She felt like a bottle of champagne that had been shaken up, and she had to grab Emmett’s arm just to steady herself as they made their way down the courthouse steps. 

Their fifth day in court had come to a spectacular conclusion: the allegation that Brooke had been having an affair with her pool boy had been revealed as the lie that it clearly was, leaving the prosecution teetering on their back foot for the time being - and it was all thanks to Emmett's masterful cross-examination. 

Even Callahan had looked impressed as the shame-faced witness left the stand, and Brooke had been so delighted that she’d kissed Emmett on both cheeks before she was led away by the bailiffs, leaving behind pretty smears of rose pink lipstick on his skin. 

Of course, they still had a fight ahead of them. Their opponents had yet to bring out their star witness, Brooke’s step-daughter, and her testimony was bound to make things difficult. But for the first time since they’d gone to visit Brooke in jail, Elle felt optimistic. What had happened today was surely proof that this team could still prove Brooke’s innocence and win her back her freedom, even without her alibi. 

Emmett laughed, his eyes tipping down to meet hers for a moment before darting away again. He looked both pleased and embarrassed, and he was definitely blushing. “Thanks, but don’t forget, it was your idea, Woods,” he said, bumping his shoulder against hers. 

“True,” she said, pretending to preen and grinning when she managed to draw out one of those startled little laughs of his that she couldn’t get enough of, “but you did all the work. I could never have tricked the truth out of him like you did. You were…”

She trailed off, not quite sure how to finish. As soon as she tried, she found she couldn’t put it into words, the feeling she’d had watching him in court today. 

Of course, logically, she’d always known that he was…well, a lawyer, and a good one. He’d graduated top of his class at Harvard, got a job at Callahan’s firm, and had been Callahan’s top choice to be his co-counsel on this difficult case, so he had to be. But up until now, she’d never actually pictured what Emmett would look like in a courtroom. When she thought of Emmett, the first image that sprang to mind was always the guy with the faded, too-large jacket and the worn leather bookbag, who’d spent so many evenings camped out in her room that her desk always looked strangely empty when he wasn’t there. 

She liked that guy, a lot. He was full of contradictions: sardonic and sweet, laid-back and yet so determined, encouraging but exacting, a realist but a hopeful one. 

The man she’d seen today was all that and more, and getting to see him in that entirely new light had been…well, it was…

“Elle?” 

She looked up at him, embarrassed to realise how long she’d left him hanging. The others were way ahead of them, down by the street looking for a cab to take them back to campus. Emmett stopped walking altogether and turned to face her. He looked suddenly anxious, far more so than he had been when getting up in front of an entire courtroom to interrogate a witness.

“I was…what?” 

_Hot._

The word popped into her mind utterly unexpectedly, but she knew at once it was the word she’d been looking for. Seeing Emmett in his smart new suit, standing out there in front of the judge and the jury, confident and unruffled and very, very handsome...had been extremely attractive.

But there was no way in hell she could say that to him right now. What if it made him uncomfortable? Sure, she’d called him hot the other day when they were shopping for his new suit and he hadn’t seemed to mind. But telling your best friend you thought they looked hot while acting as co-counsel at a murder trial was not quite the same as telling them you thought they looked hot in a department store changing room - she didn’t want him to feel like she was diminishing what he’d achieved, or to cross a line in their friendship.

Flustered, she scrambled for something to say to cover the awkward silence she had left, and landed on something he’d once said to her after she'd done particularly well in one of Callahan’s classes. “You were something to see, Em.” She hoped it sounded as sincere as she’d meant it to be. 

There was a momentary pause, then Emmett’s eyebrows went up as he recognised the words, “Did you just plagiarise me?” 

“I quoted you,” she corrected him, “I give you full credit for the work. Though frankly, ‘something to see’ is a widely-used idiomatic saying, so I doubt you could actually copyright it as your own intellectual property.” 

He grinned, “I’m so proud of you right now.” 

She beamed back at him, “I’m proud of you too.” 

Emmett seemed to hesitate for a second, as though he were making up his mind on something, “Elle, there’s something I wanted to tell you...well, I've been wanting to tell you for a while now... I-”

“Hey!” 

Both of them looked round, surprised. Warner was glaring at them from down on the road, standing by a taxi while Vivian and Enid climbed into the backseat. One of his hands was gripping the top of the passenger side door so tightly his knuckles were white, and impatience was evident in every line of his body. 

Elle just stared at him, momentarily stunned. Was this the man she’d been so in love with? He didn’t look so handsome when he was so clearly consumed by jealousy and insecurity, hating Emmett and her for their success, and himself for falling short. 

“Are you two lovebirds coming or what? We’ve still got work to do, you know.” 

_Lovebirds?_ She rolled her eyes. What, were they in fifth grade or something? 

“Thanks for the reminder,” Emmett said, and though his voice was light and pleasant, Elle knew him well enough to hear the sarcasm underneath his words, “you guys take that one, we’ll get the next. See you back at campus.” 

Warner’s mouth tightened into a firm line and for a moment, it looked like he wanted to say something else, something undoubtedly scathing and probably poorly-judged. Then he grunted, and disappeared into the front seat of the cab without another word. 

“Wow,” she said, looking at Emmett as the car pulled away, “Warner can be such a-”

“Butthead?” Emmett suggested. 

Elle laughed as they headed towards the curb together, “No, you’re a butthead. I was gonna say sore loser.” 

“And you’re just realising this now?” He asked, gently mocking. She rolled her eyes at him, even though, in all honesty, the level of resentment in Warner’s face had come as a surprise. She’d never seen him look like that before. “He’s just mad because he underestimated you. Though it should have been obvious from the moment you managed to get Brooke’s alibi that you were going to be a key player in this team. Today was just further proof of that.” 

She blushed, flattered – Emmett wasn’t the type to give out false praise. “Thank you, Em. Really, that means a lot.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

“Sorry,” she said, suddenly remembering how Warner had cut him off, “you were going to tell me something.” 

“Oh, yeah.” He fiddled with the strap of his satchel for a second, then gave a little shake of his head, “Don’t worry about it, it can wait until later.” 

A little surprised and very curious, she nodded, “Okay.”

He smiled at her and something caught her eye. Though he’d gone to the bathroom earlier to wipe his face clean of Brooke’s kisses, there was still a lingering trace of lipstick on his right cheekbone. Stifling a giggle, she pressed her palm lightly to his face so she could wipe the faint mark away with her thumb, feeling him start just a little in surprise, then relax as he understood what she was doing. 

He waited patiently until she was done, then raised his eyebrows, “Is it gone?” 

“Gone.” 

“Good,” he said playfully, turning to flag down an approaching taxi, “pink is your thing, I wouldn’t want to impose.” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, studying the soft pink flush on the back of his neck with a smile, “I think it suits you.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
